Anguish for mother of suicide girl as 'cyber-tormentor' escapes the law

[T_i_B]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2216603,00.html

Megan Meier was Tina's daughter. She was vulnerable, a little overweight, suffered from depression and she was only 13. About a year ago she persuaded her parents to let her have an account on the social networking site MySpace. And on it she met Josh Evans, 16 and handsome, who told her she was 'beautiful'.

Six weeks later she was dead - found by her distraught parents hanging from a beam in her bedroom closet. After weeks of kind compliments, Josh had suddenly turned. He'd called her 'mean' and said he'd heard she was nasty to her friends. Others then joined in the online onslaught, saying she was 'fat' and a 'whore'. For Megan, who, says her mother, had been regularly bullied and 'had been striving for years for a boy to like her,' the rejection was too much.

But Josh never existed. He was made up. And, in another cruel twist made public for the first time last week, he was apparently the creation of the mother of one of Megan's friends who lived four doors away in Waterford Crystal Drive.

What is more, despite both police and FBI investigations, Megan's embittered parents have been told that Lori Drew, 48, the woman they accuse of causing the death of their 'goofy, bouncy and beautiful daughter,' faces no charges. Cyberspace, it seems, has outpaced the law.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I don't believe the "cyber bully" neighbor will "get away with it".

If the prosecutor cannot find an appropriate penal statute that was violated, then the girl's parents can seek a civil action in tort (intentional infliction of emotional distress and wrongful death).

And if that remedy is not likely, don't forget the morality lesson of O.J. Simpson. He was technically acquitted, but he continues to be a pariah as a result of the verdict. I have a feeling that the community in which both families live will shun the "cyberbully" mom and she will find herself the topic of whispered messages in the supermarket, unsigned letters and notes expressing distaste being mailed, lack of invitations to homes and to participate in school activities, her kids shunned vicariously for her actions, etc. There's no way Drew can continue her life as it was before she manipulated Tina into taking her life.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Hope you're right about the civil case

This woman needs to pay more than a psychic penalty for what she did...otherwise a tragic precedent has been set.

[HeeBGBz]

4. Karma should take care of it

One way or another, but I really think she should at least get charged with cyberstalking.

[ikojo]

6. According to the St Louis Post Dispatch

there was a demonstration outside the home of the "adults" who committed the cyber bullying of Megan Meier. I wonder how many of these people befriended Megan when she was alive.



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/D57AC45239714D188625739E00140AF0?OpenDocument

DARDENNE PRAIRIE — About 150 people gathered Saturday in a parking lot of Fort Zumwalt West Middle School to protest the Internet bullying of Megan Meier that led to her suicide.

Some were friends, there to remember their classmate. Others were family, bemoaning the loss. And some hoped for what they consider justice.

snip

Just after 6 p.m., candles lit, the group began to walk toward the Drews' home.

snip

Teens and adults alike stepped to the microphone and talked about Megan.

[Ian David]

9. Read the rest of the article. The Backlash Cometh.

<snip>

But the allegation, and lack of action, has bewildered and enraged America. Virtual vigilantism has taken over. Irate bloggers have posted details of Drew and her husband Curt, 51, on the internet identifying their home and telephone number and details of their jobs, his as a manager in a local factory, hers as an ad saleswoman.

The couple, now bombarded with hate mail and reportedly receiving death threats, have remained silent on legal advice.

Now Dardenne Prairie is turning on them. They are shunned by neighbours. They have had a brick through their window and been subjected to a paintball attack and false 911 calls. Last week the town's board of aldermen unanimously passed a law making cyber-harassment a misdeamenour with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.

<snip>

'I hear she's receiving death threats and that she's been besieged in their home. But I don't feel one ounce sorry for her for the repercussions in any shape or form. I intend to fight to the bitter end to see her prosecuted.'

More:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2216603,00.html

[Bunny]

2. What makes a 48 year old woman torment a 13 year old girl?

What kind of sick fuck is she?

[SoCalDem]

5. "...she was only 13..."..."...striving for years to have a boy like her..."

overweight depressed 13 yr olds should NOT be "chatting" online.. They should be getting help with their depression, and concentrating on their own real lives...

Computers , unsupervised are a dangerous thing.. and shame on her parents for not making her aware that people online are RARELY who they say they are..

The neighbor SHOULD be prosecuted , but technology seems to be ahead of the law.. shame on her for being so shallow and mean..hopefully the exposure of her actions will taint her life forever..

[ikojo]

7. How could a 13 year old be striving for years to have

a boy like her? I can understand that statement if she was 16,17 or 18; but 13 and striving for years to have a boy like her? Of course St Charles County is among the most red of the St Louis metropolitan area, populated primarily by people who moved from North St Louis County during the years of white flight. Maybe having expectations of having a boyfriend at 13 is a Republican family value.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. I can understand "striving for years" by the time one is 13.

I first began wishing to gain the fondness of the boy who sat in back of me in fourth grade when I was nine. Nothing sexual of course, but still wanting nothing but for him to "look at me" like nobody else. The Puppy Love Syndrome.

[treestar]

10. How could she be "goofy" and "bouncy" and then kill herself?

I hope there are more indications than this. Would a child do something like that and have it be a total surprise to the parents?

What the neighbor did was mean, but wouldn't be enough for a suicide for most kids, even 13 year olds. A kid that age shouldn't be hanging out with real 16 year olds, let alone imaginary ones. Did she have no one to confide in? Her problems have to have gone way deeper.